JOTA Artist-Scholar Residency Fellowship 2025-26
The Spine: Identity in Tumultuous Times/La Médula: Identidad en Tiempos Tumultuosos
Brandeis Initiative of the Jews of the Americas (JOTA)
The mission of the Brandeis Initiative on the Jews of the Americas (JOTA) is to understand, preserve, and elevate Latin American Jewish history and culture and to contribute to the rich mosaic of Jewish life and broader society throughout the Americas and around the world.
At JOTA, we believe that Latin American Jews form an integral part of the Jews of the Americas and of the global Jewish diaspora, while offering an essential perspective for migration and diaspora studies and also to further understanding of the diversity of Latin America.
Within this framework, JOTA is organizing its first Artist-Scholar Fellowship, which will include an in-person Residency workshop at Brandeis University during Fall 2025. The Residency will be followed by a six-month continuing supported group Fellowship structured around monthly online meetings. The Fellowship will provide the following deliverables: an art exhibition in Spring 2026, the publication of a book including images of the artwork or recordings and editorial essays by the scholars, and also a scholarly publication compiling full length articles in an academic journal of the field to be submitted for peer review within nine months after the conclusion of the Residency.
Application Deadline: November 1, 2024
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The Spine: Identity in Tumultuous Times/ La Médula: Identidad en tiempos tumultuosos
JOTA is organizing an inaugural Residency Fellowship dedicated to Latin American Jewish identity, conceived through a collaboration between contemporary visual, literary, and musical artists and multidisciplinary scholars of Latin American Jewry.
The theme of this event is Spine/Médula, with its dual significance as the encasement of the anatomical spinal cord and that which unites the pages of a book. Knowledge, and specifically books, have been at the center of the Jewish experience while also embodying the migration of peoples and their communal stories. In these tumultuous times, where meaning and identity seem constantly in question, we invite scholars and artists to address themes of identity, memory, and belonging through their unique professional lens. This topic encompasses, among others, the concepts of humanity, personal identity, transnationality, and bodies of knowledge.
By inviting scholars and artists of different disciplines to convene on this theme, JOTA intends to stimulate the dialogue and production of original works of scholarship and art that explicitly reflect on that which can be gained by a multi-disciplinary approach to an experiential workshop, whereby the academy and the art world engage in meaningful and collaborative new production.
Now, more than ever, it is critical to explore these themes about Jewish identity and peoplehood, and lead academic and artistic communities in a creative and constructive dialogue.
Benefits
- Four days of workshop sessions and activities at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (October 26-October 29, 2025).
- Lodging, meals, site visits, research, and experiential art workshop sessions.
- A shared community of 12 international scholars and artists working on topics related to Jews of Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
- Membership to JOTA’s Artist/Scholar Fellows Alumni Network.
JOTA invites those who identify themselves within the following parameters to apply.
Please note that participation is not limited to scholars or artists of Latin America Jewry. Rather, the requirements listed below will an important framework for examining topic of the Fellowship.
- Scholars and artists with significant achievement and recognition in their field.
- Forward-thinking individuals with a track record of breakthrough ideas and actions.
- Curious, collegial, and collaborative individuals, open to giving and receiving feedback from a diverse group of fellow residents.
- Commitment to JOTA’s mission to promote greater understanding of Jews of the Americas as part of the Jewish people and of the Latin America and Caribbean Diaspora and desire to participate in JOTA’s Fellowship Alumni Network.
- Each participating artist and scholar will produce an individual artist book during his/her/their Residency at Brandeis University during Fall 2025.
- In the months following the in-person Residency, participants will join six online Project Review sessions facilitated by the artistic and academic directors.
- During these months that follow the in-person Residency, artists will produce individual original works of art that will be featured, together with all the artist's books, in an exhibition presented at Brandeis University in Spring 2026. The exhibition may travel to other venues to be determined.
- JOTA will publish an on-line bilingual (Spanish and English) collaborative book that will feature the artwork of the exhibit alongside essays produced by the scholars in continuation of the 2025 Residency.
- JOTA will support the publication of a special compilation of scholarly articles written by the academic fellows, to be published in a dedicated edition of a journal in our field.
JOTA will offer a student version of the program under the guidance of Dalia Wassner, Academic Director, and Mirta Kupferminc, Artistic Director, in conjunction with Brandeis's faculty from the following departments: Near Eastern and Judaic Studies; Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies; Fine Arts; and CAST (Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation Program).
- Students will create individual Artist Books.
- An exhibition featuring the students' Artist Books will be presented during the annual Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis in Spring 2026, alongside the professional exhibition.
The program will include visits to local sites such as the Touro Synagogue, Newport RI; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA; the Yiddish Book Center, Amherst MA; Mayyim Hayyim, Newton, MA. Participants will benefit from guest speakers during the residency and the six-month online Project Review.
A committee of specialists will select a group totaling twelve (12) fellows, comprised of six (6) artists and six (6) scholars, who will be invited to carry out the four-day JOTA Art Residency at Brandeis University and the continuing Project Review. The Workshop is envisioned as a collaboration between a multi-disciplinary selection of professional artists and scholars. The Workshop and the continuing Project Review will be led in English, which entails that participants have a working knowledge of English.
Selection Process:
- An online application followed by a second round of in-person interviews to determine selection to Residency Fellowship. Please see below to begin the application process.
Selection Committee:
Ruth Behar, Saul Bitran, Julian Bonder, Mirta Kupferminc, Laura Conrad Mandel, Rosa Lowinger, and Raanan Rein
Directors of Residency:
Dalia Wassner and Mirta Kupferminc
Curator of Residency:
Francine Birbragher- Rozencwaig
View Bios
Requirements:
- Travel expenses to and from Boston to participate in the Residency are not covered. A limited number of need-based and competitive travel grants for up to US$1,000.00 per person will be made available by application after Fellowship invitations are extended.
- Participants are required to procure their own travel health insurance.
- Selected Fellows must participate for the entire duration of the fellowship and all included activities.
- Each artist and scholar remain the sole owner of the intellectual property produced during the Residency and Fellowship. The artist books produced during the Residency will be returned to each maker after two years of exhibition. All artwork produced remains the property of the artist. Printed images of the artwork for exhibition will remain the sole property of JOTA. Scholars agree to a joint academic publication resulting from the Fellowship, and will not publish their work independently.
- Any future publications or exhibits resulting from the JOTA Spine/Médula Fellowship must cite the awarded Fellowship.
- Any unforeseen circumstance not here considered will be resolved at the sole discretion of Brandeis University.
Application to the Residency Fellowship constitutes a full acceptance of these rules.
- Letter of interest delineating interest in Residency and continuing Fellowship, designating how past areas of expertise (i.e., diaspora, migration, identity, human rights) lend an informed perspective with which to engage the topic of Latin American Jewish diaspora (500 words maximum).
- A brief paragraph outlining proposed topic of research and artistic production during the extended Fellowship (after Residency concludes). Suggested topics include but are not limited to: Im/migration, memory, identity, people/hood, human rights, gender, ritual, language, public spaces (250 words max).
- CV of up to 3 pages in PDF format.
All artistic disciplines included in the “visual arts” disciplines may apply, including but not limited to: Painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, digital, installation, photography, video, art, video documentary, film.
Additional materials:
- Visual Artists: Five to 10 images of previous works produced in the last five years. The images uploaded to the form must be .jpg format and must have a weight 10 MB and a resolution of 300 dpi each. They must be labeled as follows: image number_author/_title_year (ex: 1_johnsmith_migrants_2020). In a separate pdf, the list of images must be sent in order of presentation, including: Title, Size, Technique, Year of completion, and Comments.
- Film and Music disciplines: Two to five links or trailers of work completed in the last eight years.
- Literary disciplines: Poets must send five poems written in the last five years; writers must send examples of two stories or an excerpt of novel (up to four pages each) of creative writing (may be in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Hebrew).
Indicate academic discipline, including but not limited to: Anthropology; Architecture; Art History; Comparative Literature; Diaspora Studies; History; Jewish Studies; Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies; Migration Studies; Romance Languages; Sociology; Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Scholar must provide:
- Letter delineating interest in Residency and the continuing Fellowship that illustrates how the scholar’s background and area of expertise lends a ready lens through which to engage the topic of Latin American Jewish diaspora (500 words maximum).
- A brief paragraph outlining proposed topic of research during the extended Fellowship (after Residency concludes). Suggested topics include but are not limited to: Im/migration, memory, identity, people/hood, human rights, gender, ritual, language, public spaces (250 words maximum).
- CV of up to three pages in PDF format.
- Two writing samples (published article or books chapter in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Hebrew).
Q: What if I am unable/unwilling to produce an artist book?
A: All must participate. The Residency will include guided workshops to support the artist book production of artists and scholars alike. These will reflect the shared experience between the artists and scholars during the Residency.
Q: Can I come a day late or leave a day earlier?
A: No, all selected Fellows must be present for its entirety.
Q: Can I bring a significant other/family member?
A: No, the Residency is intended as a shared experience for the selected group.
Q: Must I participate in all activities?
A: Yes, all Fellows are expected to participate in all Residency activities.
Q: May I take personal time to visit friends/family in the evenings?
A: No, all evenings will include social/cultural events for the Fellows. Any extracurricular visits or activities should be made either in days prior or following the Residency. The Residency is designed as an intense, shared experience.
Direct any other inquiries to Dalia Wassner and Mirta Kupferminc at: daliafw@brandeis.edu and mirta@mirtakupferminc.net
apply and Upload Materials
Artist and Scholar Application to the Fellowship implies agreement to the following terms:
- Artist books and artistic project produced during the Residency are to be exhibited at Brandeis and subsequent exhibitions open to the public.
- The artist will provide the high-quality professional files to be printed by JOTA.
- JOTA will produce three high-quality prints of all artists’ works, one will be the property of the artist, the other two will be for exhibition and distribution. These will not be made available for sale.
- All graphic or musical productions will be exhibited through the use of screens and QR codes.
- The intellectual property of all art produced will belong to the artist, but participation in the Fellowship grants JOTA rights to show and to publish the image freely for artistic or educational purposes.
